Siege
by Colonel-Commissar2468
Summary: A little oneshot idea I had, from an image in a history book about Verdun. basically, it showed soldiers fighting in tunnels wearing Death Korps-esque gas masks. Enjoy!


A/N: Sorry I haven't updated Memoirs of a Steel Legionnaire in weeks. I haven't got any fresh ideas recently, so I'm placing it on temporary hiatus. Here's a little oneshot for my fans. Leave a review if you want a cameo in Memoirs (it would be helpful if I could get a name and specialisation for any characters)!

Pronunciations:

Vauxe – Vox

Veerdunne – Ver-doo-na

_Diary of Death Korps of Krieg Guardsman 1234-567-8910-Vared, Second Squad, Third Platoon, Fourth Company, 327th Siege Regiment, assigned to Fort Vauxe, Veerdunne, Garan Sigma, the Garan Sector, Segmentum Obscurus:_

_120785.M41…I was assigned to my first posting today, praise the Emperor. My brigade – four regiments – was assigned to the Garan Sector. We're all fresh recruits, or old men. My regiment, the 327th, was assigned to hold Veerdunne, the capital of this mudball Garan Sigma. The other regiments were deployed on the other key worlds. _

_Our fort has five sides. Each is a reinforced concrete wall, with trenches, tank traps, minefields and anti-tank ditches outside, stub nests and las-cannon emplacements on the walls and galleries within the walls. _

_Inside the ten meter thick outer wall is the counter-scarp ditch, the inner wall, then the parade ground and the firing range. Tunnels leading under the parade ground run from the inner wall – which is some twenty metres thick to allow for movement inside – to the inner citadel. _

_In there is the fort's main offensive weapon – a 250mm howitzer, a 'Super Earthshaker', as well as barracks for the eight hundred-man garrison (seven hundred and fifty Kriegsmen and fifty artillerymen) and the food and supply warehouses. At the very bottom are the water cisterns. Rainwater and groundwater are purified and recycled back into the cisterns._

_It's an impressive defence. I just hope to the Emperor that it is never needed…_

_150785.M41…It's always raining. It's been raining since my company arrived at Fort Vauxe and it's still raining. _

_The officers tell us there's been no communication offworld._

_I hope to the God Emperor that that doesn't mean we're soon to be under attack…_

_180785.M41…We've been here sixty days, and still no sign of the enemy. We spend our time drilling inside the fort, building new stub nests or digging fresh trenches, or on the firing range. There were some old PDF autoguns and lasguns, and I tried them out on the range. My Lucius-pattern is far more powerful, although it lacks a fully automatic fire setting. I just hope we don't end up using them…_

_200785.M41…Last night, all hell broke loose. A Chaos fleet of some thirty ships smashed into the system, scattering our own fleet. We've been placed on alert. I've prepared my whole life for this. We've been ordered to deploy one platoon outside each side of the walls, and another within each side. The heavy weapons teams are in the covering galleries with heavy bolters, autocannons and stubbers and on the roof with lascannons. I'm ready to meet whatever fate and the Emperor have in store for me…_

_201785.M41…The first attack came at dawn this morning. We believe that as many as ten thousand heretics, wearing sickly yellow armour and gasmasks and wielding autorifles, came at us alone. There are a hundred thousand in total around the city. We are trapped. We cannot get out. We hear drums and chants. Our only casualty was a soldier in Sixth Platoon who snapped and tried to run. The fort commissar shot him. We repelled the attack after ninety minutes. They inflicted no casualties, but we must've killed or wounded almost five hundred…_

_205785.M41…Five days. Five days of hell. They've been coming at us for five days. It's almost midnight. We repelled their last attack barely half an hour ago. We've brought down over five thousand, at the cost of one hundred and ten men – two full platoons. We've lost the trenches and the outer defences. We just pulled back into the counter-scarp galleries. They watch over the ditch and the flat ground between the outer and inner walls. In the morning, they will storm the outer wall. I pray for salvation…_

_206785.M41…Let them come. I killed a dozen heretics today, and I'll kill another dozen tomorrow! And the day after that! And the day after that! My shots are the Emperor's righteous fury! Through him, my sins are forgiven. Let them come…_

_207785.M41…Today, I saw a Chaos Space Marine. I was holding a stub nest in one of the galleries during an assault when I saw it. Eight feet tall, armoured in filth-encrusted armour – God Emperor, it was terrible. It charged seemingly straight for me, bolt pistol firing. I emptied a good hundred rounds into its' helmet before it threw something at the wall. I just got out of the way before the melta charge exploded, praise the God Emperor. It raced through the gap, swinging its'chainsword. It took down half of my squad before someone managed to kill it through its' damaged helmet. _

_The Commissar called it a Plague Marine, said he'd encountered them before. We were ordered to torch the body, to stop it spreading diseases – at least that is what the Commissar said, and I must follow orders. I was promoted to Corporal today, for my bravery…_

_210785.M41…Day after day, the assault goes on. Many men are suffering from frayed nerves. We have lost four platoons. We only have one grenadier squad left. We are losing. I think that the officers may order us to withdraw to the inner wall soon…_

_211785.M41…Last night, we began the withdrawal. But the Chaos dogs attacked us. It was a slaughter. We had very few sentries, and they were almost on top of us by the time we had turned to fight. There were many Chaos Marines in the attack. As per orders, volunteers carrying bundles of grenades sacrificed themselves to kill those Chaos Marines who were clumped together – the rest were dealt with using melta guns and plasma guns._

_Despite this, it was still a slaughter. There are only five grenadiers left, along with four platoons-worth of men – some two hundred and fifty men remain. We have lost five hundred. Only half the gunners remain. The rest died from counter-battery fire. We are running low on small arms and artillery ammunition. At least we have plenty of water…_

_212785.M41…We have weathered six assaults since dawn. We are eating our noon rations, and we have already weathered six assaults. We cannot last much longer. Five gunners have died since this morning. The bombardment gets worse by the hour, as more guns are brought up. _

_A single flight of three Valkyries managed to get through the flak with fresh supplies. We can last another eight days. Reinforcements are inbound._

_Praise the Emperor we can still win this…_

_214785.M41…Someone reported that there were terrible creatures further down the line. They were stunted, shrivelled creatures, with skin in different shade of brown, green and yellow – the colours of sickness. They carried an aura of plague surrounding them. One man killed one in close quarters, only to fall victim moments later to a terrible death. Blood and mucus vomited out of his mouth and nose. He wrenched off his mask as he vomited maggots. He died agonising moments later. The Commissar reported nothing, but I heard a rumour._

_Daemons…_

_215785.M41…There are only one hundred men left, and fifteen gunners. We've pulled back to the tunnels. We're setting up stub-nests and barricades for grenadiers and flamer teams to shelter behind. We might hold them for three days, maybe four._

_We're running out of time…_

_217785.M41…Today, I was leading the defence of a flamer barricade with five others when an attack came in. There are ten tunnels in the fort. Four have been collapsed, so the enemy are being filtered into the others._

_The enemy came forward with a flamer of their own. They drove us back from our barricade, but one of my men leaped back to man the tripod-mounted heavy flamer. He selflessly sacrificed himself when, after several shots had broken the flamer, and another had severed his hand from his body, he used his own grenades and the remaining promethium tanks to incinerate the attackers, and himself. His selfless sacrifice managed to collapse the tunnel as well._

_Praise the Emperor, he may have evened the odds…_

_220785.M41…We have been driven back to the keep. There are only fifty men left, and no gunners. Not even a regulation platoon._

_But it is worse than that. Today, me and my squad had just fetched some water from the cisterns. One of my comrades lifted his bottle to his mouth and drank, before wiping away the water from his chin. But it wasn't water. He cried out in horror and agony at the acidic bile that he had just wiped of his chin, and which was eating into his hand. I threw my bottle to the ground, and bile spilled out, eating away the floor. We started the day with fifty-six. But the Commissar and five others lie dead, their insides eaten away._

_Chaos magic, caused by those daemons, caused those deaths. They infected our water. _

_We are all going to die. The Emperor must hear my prayers. He must. He must…_

_221785.M41…There are fifteen of us left. We are holed up in the command centre. They are hammering on the doors. We have a dozen grenades, sixty powercells for our rifles and five for our pistols. We have one flamer with two tanks left. And I'm so thirsty! My mouth is dry, and my lips are cracked. There isn't a drop of safe water in the base – more than one have learnt this to their cost…_

_222785.M41…They are cutting through! I can see the cutting beams. They will break through in a minute or less. I have not drunk in two days. I already feel faint. Tomorrow, I will die from lack of water. But I do not have that long._

_They're through. Oh my God Emperor, they're through! Aaagh! Eat laser dogs! Aaauuggh…_

Inquisitor Valkovitch, of the Ordo Malleus, stopped the audio recording and placed down the dataslate. It had been retrieved by Grey Knights Space Marines who had landed into Fort Vauxe even as the heretics slaughtered the final guardsman. The garrison was to be posthumously commended for their bravery in holding back the hordes. Veerdunne, and the Garan Sector's secrets were safe for a while longer…

**A/N: It sucked, I know, but I had fun writing it. Leave a review please! Let me know if you're still reading Memoirs!**


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